The Reality of War Cannot be Communicated

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        Foley 1

Brennan Foley

10/18/07

English 1

Mr. Volz

The Reality of War Cannot be Communicated

        Throughout war man often loses his ability to communicate.  Usually soldiers in  war do not communicate about the war because it reminds them of the reality of war, and they must not communicate their’s true feelings to others.   Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Reamaeque portrays the characters’ difficultly communicating the reality of war, and struggling to express their feelings to their families and to others.        

        It was difficult for Paul to return home after seeing the reality of war.  An example of this would be Paul’s conversation with his mom in chapter seven:  ‘Was it bad out there Paul?’  Mother, what should I answer to that!  You would not understand, you could never realize it.  And you should never realize it.  Was it bad, you ask.-You, Mother,- I shake my head and say: ‘No, Mother not so very.  There are always a lot of us together so it isn’t so bad.’(Remarque 161)  Paul represses his true feelings from her. He lies to his mom because he knows that she would never understand, because she has never experienced the reality of war.  Reamaeque expresses Paul’s thoughts differently than what words were quoted.  Paul’s thoughts have deep emotion, while the words quoted do not have any.  Paul represses his true feelings about the reality of war from other family members too.                                                                                                          

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Foley 2

Paul does not want to discuss the war with his father either.  Paul’s dad asks him questions about the war, such as, has he ever fought someone in hand-to-hand combat?  ‘So I confine myself to telling him a few amusing things.  But he wants to know whether I have ever had to hand-to-hand fight.  I say ‘no,’ and get up and go out.’(Remarque 165)    Paul does not communicate the reality of war to his father because by doing so he would be reliving the reality of war, which he does not want to relive.   Paul avoids ...

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